17 Nov 2008

Well i tell you what we just had an amazing week in the district! we taught 28 lessons between the two companionships 15 of those lessons were with members! That is an all time record for this area since it has been in existence. the closest this district has ever come to that number of member lesson and just lessons period was two weeks ago when the whole district together taught 23 lessons 11 of which were with members present. Before this transfer the highest amount of lessons taught together as a district was i think like 15. 6 with members. So this district is flying to new heights, and none of that is because of me, it is all because of the missionaries in this district. They have new vision, aim, and faith. The Lord is blessing this area of his vineyard, and i am so thankful to be apart of it. WE have three baptismal dates in the area right and are looking to add two more to that this coming week, so we will see how that goes. We have this coming week and then one more after it before transfers so get excited! Most likely i will be staying here in Liberec but we will see what happens. Our district right now is the youngest district in the mission all four of us being here for less than a year. It is so amazing what faith and fire can do when you put the two of them together. Being here and seeing the success that we are having is such a great testimony to me that it doesnt matter where an individuals language skill is at, it matters where you faith is and where your motivation is. Amazing things are happening in this area and we are looking to do even more. We have planned as a district to have 20 member lessons 10 from each companionship. It is going to be sweet!! The coolest part is that the members truly are starting to catch the vision, they are starting to teach with us a lot more often. Imagine this we taught 15 lessons with members this week, and we only have 7 members that we can teach with. Woo Hooo!! Go members!! We have more members than that but they live in different cities outside of Liberec so it is a little harder to teach with them. Missionary work can be so much fun! and its crazy because im already moving into my tenth month an my mission, but only my eighth month in the field! I cant believe how fast time goes by. Our most progressing investigator right now is named Lukas. We have taught him the first three lessons and the Law of Chastity, learning the vocabulary to teach that lesson was fun i'll tell you what.....That was a little awkward. Lucky for me that we have Preach My Gospel in czech so that helped a ton.

Next week we will be in Prague for our P-day to have a Turkey Bowl between the Hradec Kralove Zone (Thats us) and the Prague Zone. So i will be emailing probably closer to 3 or 4 our time.

Questions from home:
Are you teaching bunches? yeah, we taught 28 lessons in the District 11 of those were from us, so the other elders are showing us up but, im really pleased with that because my goal was to get the missionaries in this district to a point where they all could move on to District Leaders before this transfer was over. I think that we will see that happen from the example they have been setting by their work. The missionaries here really are finding machines. It is mission standard to find and make three new investigators every week.

Do the members feed you, have you for FHE with investigators? tonight we have one which will make for our second of the transfer!

What are their customs for Christmas? they have Karp for christmas dinner, that is a custom and also something for the children that has to do with an angel the devil and saint nick. ill tell you more when that rolls around.

Do you get snow there? yeah it started to flurry today while we were outside.

Do you need cool ideas for teaching your district? no i think i should be good but feel free to send stories when you want, or you can always send talks and things in the mail for me to use and read

What kind of things do you drink? Juice, water, Kofola (czech soda)

What do you eat for lunch most often? stroganoff, soup, Gyros

What do you eat for dinner most often? sandwich, leftovers.

Je vam zima? ( moms note: I asked him if he was cold in Czech and this is his reply - I have no earthly idea what it says- that will teach me)
no to je ano. je mi velmi zima, myslim ze budu koupit neco noveho aby mi chladno nebyl. ale co? to nevim.

Well i believe that is all for now i have to write my letter to president and then we have to fly because we have a couple of meetings tonight.
Take care everyone i love you all, and i thank you for your prayers in my behalf.

Much love to you from the Czech Republic, "The CR"
Your missionary or son, or both,
Starsi Nowland